– PLENTY OF MAJOR INJURIES IN MMA

MMAWeekly.com
The immediate future is not so bright for some of the best champions in the sport. Talk about walking wounded. Chuck Liddell, Rich Franklin, Shogun Rua, and BJ Penn are all banged up after their recent fights.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell will most likely need surgery to repair a dislocated toe that he suffered before his fight while training for Randy Couture. Liddell fought with the toe in the championship fight where he knocked out Couture.

Liddell has been in a walking boot for the past couple of weeks, but now it appears he will need surgery and could be out until August.

UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin has undergone surgery to fix his broken left hand. Franklin broke the hand in Round 2 against David Loiseau. Franklin had a plate and seven screws inserted into his hand. According to the UFC website, he will be out 6 to 8 months.

Full Contact Fighter reports that Shogun Rua had fractured his elbow in his fight against Mark Coleman and he has ruptured all his elbow ligaments. The Chute Boxe star will need surgery on his elbow and will have to be sidelined for at least six months without training and it’s unknown when he will be able to compete full time.

BJ Penn is still waiting to find out if he has a broken hand. Penn told MMAWeekly.com after his fight that he believes his right hand was broken. If it is, he will have to spend some time on the injured reserve until his hand recovers.

Bottom line is the fact that this puts promoters in a tough situation with future fights. The UFC will have to wait quite awhile to see who will be next in title fights for Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell, while Pride has no idea about the future of Shogun and when he will fight again.